Hello, just DLd this for two machines. On one machine the taskbar and systray routinely disappear while doing 'whatever'. Same on the other machine, but with the added bonus of desktop icons becoming unresponsive to clicks or drags.

I like this app in theory but the few short days of use it results in a dud. Am I alone? I was premature to buy the license on one of the machines, assuming it was technically on par with its looks. I have screaming fast PCs with the latests XP installs. My roommate is a MS guru and keeps our machines ripped.

Hoping for help, Thanks.

A few questions:

1 - Is that the 32 or 64 bit version of XP?

2 - Do you have any running application that routinely freezes (even if temporarily)?

3 - Are tasks set to 'Group Similar'?

4 - If so, do you have 'Open Group on Mouseover' enabled?

Also, open NextSTART Preferences -> Tasklist and Systray Preferences -> disable 'Show Thumbnails' and run like that for a while. Does the taskbar still freeze?

Thanks for the fast reply.

1. 32 bit.
2. None.
3. No, I multi-task pretty hard so hiding anything presents a problem.
4. If I did enable 'Group Similar' I would.

I'll try the last suggestion.

Thanks again.

No improvements. Same problem. Also have modules that just disappear. A shame, I'd love to use this app.

See PM.

I read the PM, and I'll reply in a short while.

While I absolutely sympathize with your issues and would love nothing more than figuring out the cause so I can prevent it from happening to you and anybody else, I also absolutely resent your implication that Winstep Xtreme is not a solid product.

Because of that, I will now focus more on defending Winstep Xtreme than actually trying to diagnose the problem:

Have you noticed that NOT ONE SOUL joined in on this thread saying 'hey, this happens to me too!' on something that, according to you, would be a very obvious problem? Don't you find that a bit odd?

Your reasoning (and a valid one) is that you tried Xtreme on two PCs, and the same thing happened on those two PCs, therefore it must be a problem with Winstep Xtreme.

Well, I say instead that the common thing between those two PCs is actually you and your MS guru roommate (or, in other words, something that was done or installed to both the PCs and which is now interfering with Winstep Xtreme).

Being a 'guru', your roommate could have done such a simple thing as overclock your two PCs to the max until they 'seem' stable (instead of running something like Prime95 for several hours to make sure they are, in fact, stable). This would be enough to cause problems.

On the other hand, it could be a common buggy driver like Logitech's Setpoint (known to interfere with other software), or an application/utility which you routinely install on every PC you run and then forget about it.

I can only speculate, since I'm not there, am not the one who built your PCs and I have no idea what is running on them or what kind of hardware they are based on.

So, the first thing that needs to be done is to convince you that this is, in fact, NOT a problem with Winstep Xtreme but rather a problem of *something* else interfering with it (and, if it interferes with Xtreme, it will for sure interfere also with other software of the kind you run, so it is also in your best interest to help me figure out what it is).

I ask you to please install Winstep Xtreme on a friend's PC, i.e.; a PC that hasn't been touched by your MS guru friend - and then let me know if you run into the same problems or not. I say you absolutely won't.

Once we've established it is not a Winstep Xtreme problem, I will be glad to either refund your order or help you diagnose the problem, whatever you'll want to do then.

P.S. As for the desktop modules disappearing, are you sure you're not clicking on the last icon in the Nexus dock by accident? That's an internal command to toggle the desktop modules in and out of view.

Ah, passion. Works for me. I defend my creations too...

Well, interesting that you mention Setpoint, because we have that all through the joint - all workstations are running DiNovo keyboards. All other software getting along with it though.

I'll pass the info along to the 'guru'. LOL

If we come up with anything helpful I will pass it back.

(Oh, no accidental clicks.)

Thanks.

Glad you understood what I was doing.

Sometimes one runs the risk of defending what one does with such a force that other people take it personally (when it's not).

I don't actually think it's Setpoint in your case for two reasons: all the reports I've read about Setpoint causing problems with Xtreme have been on 64 bit versions of Windows, and the symptons seem different from what you described: you open a sub-menu and the parent menu turns white, for instance.

Then again, knowing how crappy Logitech programmers are (usually great hardware, though), I wouldn't be surprised if they released a new version of Setpoint that causes problems on 32 bit versions of Windows as well.

Can you find some kind of a pattern to the desktop modules disappearing? Exactly when and how do they disappear, after playing a game? Does it happen only to specific modules? How do you get them back?

The key here is trying to find some kind of 'pattern' to what is happening, and describing everything odd that happens in as much detail as possible. The devil is in the details, as they say.

Well said Jorge,

Winstep Extreme is as stable as it gets.

Update

I think I isolated something that may help. I also installed on a XP workstation at another location (untouched by roomy).

Same issues occur.

I have noticed that about 90% of the time, when the taskbar disappears, I am moving my mouse over desktop icons (not clicking), just mousing over. The rest of the time it just happens while I am looking at the monitor.

Consistently happens to taskbar. Rarely to all modules.

For either issue I usually have to close and restart Winstep. Sometimes I can just click the arrow down by the systray when it is still visible (usually is).

I see no way how just mousing over desktop icons could cause the NextSTART taskbar to become unresponsive, sorry...

Since you mention 'workstation' it makes me think that the machines are somehow related, perhaps by location (e.g. university)? Could you please try to find a pattern (something in common) between all these machines?

E.g.:

* What changes did you make in all 3 cases to the default Winstep configuration?

* Are you using the same skin/theme in all 3 workstations?

* Are these workstations part of the same Local Area Network?

* Do the machines all have the same video card/driver?

* Do the machines all have Setpoint installed? If so, what version?

* Is the Anti-Virus software common to all 3 machines?

I'm sorry, but since I am not physically there I cannot do this 'detective' work for you. All I can assure you is that there are many thousands of Winstep users running XP and other Windows versions that do NOT suffer from this same problem.

AVG and Setpoint (current versions) on all machines. The 3rd workstation totally separate from the two on our home network.

Same theme. All setting changed per your earlier posts.

Interesting update: By updating Setpoint and restarting this morning, the problem happens much less frequently. My next move is to disable Setpoint and replace the DiNovo with a regular USB MS keyboard.

Thanks for your patience.

Any news on this? What Setpoint version were you using, by the way?

Returned to USA and decided to stress test. We figured out that when running unlighted_ns theme, the app behaves. We reproduced this on 3 machines, all running Logitech. I know you don't Love Logitech but their BT keyboards are the sickest. So anyhow, I hope it lends a clue. Aero LowRes and Atmospherica crash constantly under routine use. Unlighted_ns stays intact regardless of handling. Thanks always, "gurus"